Women's Swimming

Gaucho Women Set Another Record on Second Day of Husky Invitational

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -
The UC Santa Barbara women's swim team set its third relay record of the week on Friday at the Husky Invitational when the 200 medley relay team consisting of Naomi Javanifard, Sara Nicponski, Erin Yamamoto and Anne Marie May finished in 1:38.57 beating their previous record set last season by .07 seconds. The relay team picked up the lone Gaucho first-place finish on day two of the three-day meet being hosted by Washington at King County Aquatics Center.

In addition to the school record, the Gauchos' relay time meets the NCAA "B" qualifying standard for the national championships in the spring.

Jessica Schwalb turned in the women's best 400 individual medley performance of the day, taking seventh in the event's final with a season-best mark of 4:25.08. On the men's end, Chris Good took second in the 400 IM with a mark of 3:55.54 while freshman Ryan Garcia took fifth, clocking in at 3:58.56.

Three UCSB women made the 100 fly final and Yamamoto led the squad with a fourth-place finish, touching the wall in 54.17. Javanifard (54.85) and Katie Ure (55.26) finished fifth and seventh, respectively. In the men's 100 fly, McClary took third with a time of 48.51, adding .45 seconds onto his prelims time. Chris Wiggin also swam in the event's final, posting a time of 49.44.

Nadia Dwidar posted the Gauchos' top finish in the 200 free, taking eighth with a mark of 1:51.10, though she posted a season-best time of 1:50.33 in the prelims. In the men's 200, Scott Vogelgesang turned in a third-place finish with a time of 1:37.40. Joe Wood (1:38.71) and Kevin Kuhn (1:41.67) finished fifth and eighth, respectively.

Both Katy Freeman and Nicponski made the NCAA "B" qualifying standard in the 100 breaststroke. Freeman took third, touching the wall in 1:00.98 while Nicponski finished fourth with a time of 1:01.08. May posted a time of 1:02.39 in the event's "B" final, missing the qualifying standard by .01 seconds. Sudbury placed fifth in the men's 100 breast; he posted a season-best time of 55.27 in the event's prelims.

In the 100 backstroke, Javanifard took fifth-place with a time of 56.68 and on the guy's end, Ferguson touched the wall in 50.66, placing seventh.

The day concluded with the 800 free relay. The women's "A" team of Dwidar, Yamamoto, Courtney Bauer and Kelsey Lewis placed fourth with a time of 7:33.81. The men's team consisting of Wood, Vogelgesang, Dan Morris and Chris Good finished fourth as well, touching the wall in 6:41.44.

After two days of action, the women and men are both in third-place. The men trail meet-leader Cal by 968-760.5 and the women trail first-place USC, 923-778.5.

The Gauchos will conclude action at the 2008 Husky Invitational on Saturday. The three-day event will conclude with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay.